The principle of non-discrimination and its exceptions play an essential role in relation to safeguard measures. According to WTO law safeguard measures are to be applied in a non-discriminative manner, which means that they shall target all imports of the product at issue irrespective of their origin. This principle is however not always upheld. Of particular interest for this study is the question of how the rules on safeguards de jure and de facto are applied in a selective way to achieve developmental goals and regional free trade.